Airline Biz Blog

Why we didn’t get excited (yet) about the IAM strike threats

We note that several publications made a somewhat big deal about the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ warnings that it was seeking a release from mediation so it could have the option to strike.

We didn’t. In fact, we thought long and hard before we put a brief in Friday’s Dallas Morning News noting that the IAM and US Airways negotiators had another set of meetings this week with the National Mediation Board.

We saw it as part of the usual noise that accompanies labor negotiations in the airline industry, and we don’t report much of the noise. Perhaps we should report more. The problem is separating the noise from the substance underneath the noise.

There’s no question that prolonged labor talks are exasperating for the employees, and the nature of airline labor negotiations is that they drag on and on with no real deadline. Many would cite that as a primary weakness in the Railway Labor Act, which governs labor relations in both the rail and airline industries.

We would get quite excited if we thought an IAM strike at US Airways was likely in the near future. But that’s not our evaluation of the situation:

1. The IAM’s request to be released from mediation with US Airways management is not new.

IAM international president R. Thomas Buffenbarger sent a letter March 20, 2013, to NMB chairman Harry Hoglander asking for a release for US Airways’ mechanics. On June 11, 2013, Buffenbarger sent a similar letter to Hoglander asking for a release for US Airways’ fleet service clerks.

2. The National Mediation Board has proven itself very reluctant in recent history to release airlines and unions from mediation and allow strikes.

The last passenger airline strike allowed was by Spirit Airlines pilots in 2010. Before that, it was Northwest Airlines mechanics in 2005.

3. We don’t think the NMB ever says no to a request for a release from mediation, at least not publicly. It just doesn’t say yes.

4. We’re used to airline unions demanding to be released from mediation so they could go on strike, and the NMB not granting their request.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents American’s flight attendants, asked for a release in March 2010. Didn’t happen. The Transport Workers Union at American asked for a release in March 2010. Didn’t happen. In the middle of the American bankruptcy case, the Allied Pilots Association asked the NMB to proffer binding arbitration, which the pilots said they would accept. Didn’t happen.

The Railway Labor Act sets out a careful path that the parties must follow before they can engage in “self-help,” such actions as strikes, imposed contracts, lockouts and the like.

First, the NMB has to conclude that negotiations are at an impasse. It would then proffer binding arbitration to both sides. That is what Buffenbarger’s letters of 2013 have requested, a proffer of arbitration.

If either side rejects the proffer, the NMB would start a 30-day clock ticking. If the cooling-off period ends without a deal, either side could engage in self help. There’s also a possibility that the president would appoint a Presidential Emergency Board, as Clinton did to quickly stop the American Airlines pilot strike of 1997. That would suspend a strike until the board finishes its investigation and issues its recommendations.

So what’s a union to do, with all the impediments put in its way to apply pressure on the employer? Well, you talk about your demands to be released from mediation and such to ratchet up the public perception and awareness of labor problems.

“US Airways’ refusal to settle fair contracts that provide comparable wage rates to what it negotiated with American’s employees who perform the same work is an insult,” IAM District 141 president Rich Delaney said in a Thursday press release. “We demand a release from these fruitless discussions so we can exercise our right to strike.”

The curve in the IAM talks is that US Airways merged Dec. 9 with American Airlines as the American Airlines Group, and the work forces of US Airways will eventually be combined with American’s. At American, mechanics, fleet service clerks and some other ground workers are represented by the Transport Workers Union. The TWU groups have contracts negotiated in 2012 during bankruptcy proceedings.

In wage rates, the TWU contracts generally pay AA employees more than their US Airways counterparts are paid. In other areas, the IAM contract probably has better terms on non-pay areas to offset the pay disadvantage. We admittedly don’t know because that’s really getting down into fine details.

So, will there be a new IAM contract before there’s a joint bargaining agreement that covers both airlines’ ground workers? Good question.

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Terry Maxon writes about items of interest to travelers and the aviation community.